TEACHER FIRING BILL GAINS MOMENTUM

Legislation that would make it easier to fire teachers accused of sex crimes against children and other serious offenses appears to stand a good chance of reaching Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk after similar measures repeatedly stalled through the years.

The breakthrough came when the powerful California Teachers Association endorsed a compromise bill that is expected to be approved by the Assembly Education Committee today.

The measure amends the current dismissal process by:

• Allowing districts to remove a teacher accused of a serious offense at any time. Current law states that only those teachers accused of sexual or physical abuse can be dismissed outside of the normal school year.

• Permitting districts to use evidence older than four years in cases of suspected child abuse or sex abuse as long as an administrative law judge deems it “relevant.”

• Speeding the dismissal hearing process and requiring that cases be settled within seven months. The process can now take many more months or even years.

• Expanding current provisions to require districts to place on leave teachers accused in a criminal court of homicide and serious drug offenses.

• Allowing the teacher and district to mutually agree to a dismissal hearing before a single administrative law judge rather than an appointed “Commission on Professional Competence.”

• Placing dismissal appeals in an administrative court instead of a Superior Court.

In announcing the support, CTA President Dean Vogel said the complex legislation will provide “immediate protections for students and streamline and shorten the dismissal process to ensure charges are handled fairly and in a timely manner.”

Two key lawmakers who split on the issue last year have united to add even more muscle behind the latest legislation.

One is Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, an Alamo Democrat and chair of the Education Committee, who is carrying the new bill. The other is Sen. Alex Padilla, a Pacoima Democrat, who had introduced his own measure that had not won over the CTA.

Buchanan was a key player in helping shelve a similar bill authored by Padilla last year. This year, he has dropped his own bill and embraced hers.

“We share a common interest: keeping our children safe at school. I believe we can accomplish more by working together on these important issues,” Padilla said in a statement endorsing the compromise, Assembly Bill 375.

Buchanan echoed those sentiments in her own statement. But it was a different story last year.

That’s when Padilla’s first bid failed to clear the Assembly Education Committee by one vote. Buchanan was one of two “no” votes. She later explained that she was not convinced that the provisions protected teachers from unjust firings and had other flaws.

Lawmakers were under pressure to act following a scathing audit of how the Los Angeles Unified School District handled child abuse allegations against teachers.

The state audit found that the district wound up paying teachers to quit because the firing process was too costly and cumbersome, among other shortcomings. Auditor Elaine Howle uncovered 47 settlements involving misconduct with a student resulted in payouts of more than $2 million. In addition, 111 teachers and administrators who had been put on paid leave while their case was being reviewed collected more than $4 million in salary in 2011-12.

Most unsettling was a case involving a teacher who received a $40,000 check in return for resigning even though he had been charged with sexual acts involving bodily fluids against students in his classroom.

Republicans were handed a ready-made campaign issue during the fall election when Padilla’s legislation was killed in the Assembly Education Committee.

One of those targeted was then-Assemblyman Marty Block, a San Diego Democrat who nevertheless went on to win his Senate campaign against GOP rival George Plescia of La Jolla.

Block never had an opportunity to vote on the initial legislation last year because it died in the Assembly Education Committee. He immediately signed on to co-author Padilla’s since-dropped measure this year and supports the later bill advanced by Buchanan and the CTA.

“This is getting them out as quickly as possible so children are safe from harm and balances that with the need to protect due process for accused teachers,” Block said in an interview this week.

Block said there is one significant difference between Buchanan’s new measure and the one carried by Padilla last year.

Padilla wanted the school board to have the final say in firing a teacher. Buchanan’s bill would retain existing law that leaves the decision to a special hearing panel.

Block said he prefers Buchanan’s approach because it takes some of the politics out of the decision.

A dismissal, Block said, “could not be on the whim of a school district.”

Block predicts that the measure will advance to the governor’s desk given the endorsement of the CTA.

“I think it makes it through easily,” he said.

The bill also delves into a different area, changing what proponents say is an outdated provision of California law. The bill would drop membership in the Communist Party as a legitimate reason for dismissal.

The only opposition to the bill so far comes from one group protesting that change.

If passed, the bill’s next stop would be the Judiciary Committee.

Buchanan, a former school district trustee, is carrying companion legislation, AB 1338, that requires districts to make sure that all teachers and staff understand they have a legal responsibility to report abuse. In Los Angeles, some employees reportedly knew of problems but failed to notify authorities. That bill also is expected to pass Wednesday.

Hers is not the only effort to change the teacher firing process.

Sen. Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, is carrying legislation that would make it simpler to terminate predator teachers, but he also includes provisions to dismiss incompetent teachers in the same bill.

“Most teachers want teachers who are preying on our kids or not performing to be dealt with quickly,” he said in an interview. “You want to keep professional standards as high as possible.”

Knight’s SB 531 is unlikely to pass given that he sets standards on classroom competence opposed by the CTA.